Dangerous Women

The next morning was warm and fair. At this time of the year it could not be taken for granted that it would last, so when Tonia suggested that they drive south along the coast road, and walk around the next cape under the pine trees, both Kate and Susa

After breakfast they set out, Tonia driving as usual. It was half an hour’s journey. They made trivial conversation about mutual friends, the condition of the road, even political subjects such as the situation in Europe in the attempt to rebuild after the devastation of over four years of war that had taken the lives of more than ten million men, and maimed or crippled God knew how many more. It was a grim thing to think of, but it was safe. There was nothing personal in it, nothing to dig up their own still festering wounds.

They parked the car and walked in the sun up the steep footpath out above the sea. They heard the sharp, clear song of a red-winged blackbird, and a moment later saw it sitting on a branch, its brilliant patches of scarlet easily visible. The wild honeysuckle was in bloom, and the scent of pine needles gave the air a pungency that seemed to wash away every sour thought or memory, as the sight of the sea took it from the mind.

They watched in the distance for the sight of whales breaching, the white spout of water against the blue that would give away their position. Below them the white ranks of waves broke endlessly on the sand, dazzling the eye, the offshore wind carrying the spray back like smoke from their crests.

“This is perfect,” Kate said with a smile. “I can’t think of anything more beautiful.”

“It looks it,” Tonia agreed. “Especially from up here. But looks can deceive, can’t they, Kate. You should know that.”

Kate was startled. “What’s that supposed to mean? Just because I got caught by the wave yesterday evening! Whoever was walking closest to the water could have been caught. It just happened to be me.”

“Is that how you see life?” Tonia’s smile was cold. “Nothing is cause and effect, no responsibility? It just happens to be you?”

A flick of temper lit in Kate’s eyes. “Isn’t that rather a stretch? I got my feet wet by a sneaker wave, so my whole life’s philosophy is irresponsible? I could just as easily say that you ran up the shore without warning me, so your whole life is to run away from things and leave other people to suffer!”

“By other people, you mean you?” Tonia asked, a mild humor in her voice. “Are you sure you mean me? Susa

“Oh, good for Susa

Were they talking about the wave, or something else? Susa

Somehow! Tonia had been Ralph’s wife! Kate had been his mistress. There could be no justification for that, no moral or social right. They would both say bitter things, and the freeing of the anger might be momentarily a relief, but there would be no forgetting, no going back to where they had been before. Tonia would call Kate a thief, even a whore, and a betrayer of everything that family meant.

Kate would point out that Ralph had married Tonia, but had grown tired of her, and in the end preferred Kate. It was Kate he had loved. Nothing could change, or heal that now. Tonia would have no charge to counter with. It was the truth.

Susa

Of course they were wrong! The difference was that Tonia knew it, however she had learned! Kate still didn’t. She didn’t know that Ralph Bessemer had loved no one. He had been an arrogant, ambitious man who used people to satisfy his own appetites, physical, yes, but mostly for power, admiration, money and to be endlessly admired.

Susa

Had he ever loved Tonia? Or was she simply an advantageous marriage? Had he loved Kate, or was she just entertaining, and fun to take, so he could deceive the bossy, possessing Tonia, and laugh behind her back?

Susa

But he had been too sure of himself! He had asked for her help too soon. Two sisters won, he had taken the third for granted. She was to be of use, no more. She was in the perfect position, trusted by bank officials, to pass him the information he wanted. But she had used it to trap him instead.

No one else knew that, of course. Tonia had no idea it was Susa

Naturally Kate had believed the same. Kate was passionate, fu

They were walking slowly back into the shade of the pines. There were wild brambles at the side of the track.

“There’ll be fruit to pick in the fall,” Tonia observed. “You’ll like that, Kate! Just be careful you don’t get caught on the thorns. You can get nasty scratches, very deep. And they can get infected, if you’re really unlucky.”

“I’ll be careful,” Kate replied a little tersely.

“Oh-so you’ve learned, have you?” Tonia turned for a moment to glance behind her, her face cold, delicate arched eyebrows high.

“I’ve always been careful picking berries,” Kate retorted.

“So you have,” Tonia agreed. “Or any other fruit. You’ve managed to get in and out without a scratch at all, and take the prize with you.” She turned back to look where she was going again.

Kate hesitated in her stride. By now she had to be as sure as Susa

What then? Shouting, accusation, misery, guilt? Was that what Tonia wanted, that Kate should feel that bitter, corroding shame of the betrayer exposed? It would do no good. Nothing Ralph had said or done would be changed, and above all he would not be brought back to love or cheat either of them!

But she could not tell Tonia that without giving away that she knew!

They reached the car in silence and got in. The drive back in the dappled sunlight should have been wonderful, but the outward beauty of the day was already clouded over for all of them. All the way back, and through lunch in the house, Tonia made double-edged remarks, and Kate got angrier and angrier. Twice she hit back, but the sharpness of it was tempered by the knowledge of her own guilt. Susa